Amazing Small Backyard Landscape Ideas

Don’t think of your microscopic garden as a curse. What if it’s technically a small concrete slab that can barely fit a half-sized Weber grill? Or if your paved patio is just big enough for you, a lounge chair and a good book? Your small outdoor space is actually an opportunity to get creative.

To live large in a small space, try these functional tweaks to make your small outdoor space feel like a palatial retreat.

Wait what? That’s right. Even if your area is relatively small, dividing your outdoor space into two areas can actually make it seem larger.

“Creating a space within a space makes it seem larger because it provides a separate experience,” says Joy Diaz, chief marketing officer at Land Care Inc.

Diaz recommends a small wooden pergola, which you can purchase at hardware stores or even build yourself without much effort. You can also divide the room with walls. We’re not talking bulky concrete barriers here—try using short trellises, arbors, or vine-covered wooden fences to separate your loungers from your patio table.

“It’s like, ‘I’m in one place, this is a different place, and if there’s room for two places, it has to be big,'” says J. Scott Williams, landscape architect with YardApes in New Milford, Connecticut.

An added benefit: Walls prevent visitors from walking in a straight line from one end of the patio to the other, instead creating a winding path that gives your small space a feeling of space.